Things to do on and around Siesta Key
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The store that has it all GreenTurtle Shell & Gift City is a visitor’s feel-good emporium
The Green Turtle’s Patty Puma at her gift store extraordinaire in Southbridge Mall. (photo by Jane Bartnett)
By John Morton
H
ow could employees at a gift store in a tourist town possibly enjoy taking inventory? Especially when that inventory hovers around 250,000 pieces, ranging from 39 cents to $800, and requires a hand count. That’s right, no scanners, no clickers, and certainly no guessing. Oh, and it can take up to two weeks to complete. Each and every month. But that’s business as usual at Green Turtle Shell & Gift City, located at 6525 Midnight Pass Road in Southbridge Mall. “I can never put a finger on it,” manager Patty Puma said of why her 11 employees enjoy the process. “And we are even emptying baskets of little things when we add it all up. Most people would run for the hills.
“We’ll even get up on a 12-foot ladder when we do it, including me. I don’t mind. It’s fun.” It’s an attention to detail that fits the store’s mantra – “If you can’t find it here, you can’t find it anywhere,” said Puma of what she calls her “astronomical” array of offerings in the 4,000-square-foot store. “We’ll even order something that a customer requests,” added Puma, who recently ordered a certain type of swimming goggles for someone. “I’ll write down the customer’s name and phone number and then hunt it down, whether it’s from one of our other stores or through a sales rep. Continued on page 14V
This Robin Hood likes to give to the tourist By Ned Steele “Step into my office,” says Mark Toomey, proprietor of Robin Hood Rentals, with a smile. Which is how you find yourself in the shotgun seat of a bright orange golf cart parked on the tarmac outside the shop, chatting with Toomey about the business of making Key visitors happy with a seemingly endless supply of golf carts, bicycles, scooters, scoot coupes (more about those later), paddle boards, kayaks, beach chairs, gazebos and umbrellas, segways, tennis racquets and more. Really, Robin Hood’s got pretty much anything you’d need to enjoy life on Siesta Key and to get around
Robin Hood Rentals owner Mark Toomey looking sharp and sitting pretty in one of his many scoot coupe cars. (photo by Ned Steele)
on it, except maybe an extra pair of feet. The “office” is whichever golf cart sits at the head of the row, because every inch of Robin Hood is crammed -- outside with rows and rows of vehicles, and in the warren of rooms inside with what the shop just calls “beach stuff.” That includes sunscreen, hoodies, T-shirts, swimsuits, souvenirs and merch, and the like. (No, you don’t rent sunscreen or a shirt. These items you have to buy, and people seem to be doing so, eagerly.) So, if you want to talk to Toomey about the business, you grab a seat on a cart. Which we did.
The first question, of course: Why Robin Hood? Because Mark hails from Nottingham, England, the same town where the legendary hero bandit roamed. The analogy ends there: Toomey will rent you anything at a fair price, but the business model does not include either robbing from the rich or giving to the poor. Back in 2007, Toomey sold his corporate recruiting business in the U.K., hopped the pond, and landed on Siesta Key. “I’d always wanted to do something different,” he recalled.
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Ken helped serveup something new
It’s cold, but the arts are still hot
The cranberry cocktail you’ll love
This month, it is their tern to shine
Continued on page 11V
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